Romanza introduces French influences, enhanced outdoor living in Avignon model

A French aesthetic pared down to its simplest form will be showcased in the interior design of the Avignon, a luxury single-family estate model in Quail West.

London Bay Homes has selected Melissa Allen of Romanza Interior Design to create the interior design for the four-bedroom, two-story home.

Allen’s design features "a clean French" look throughout the model’s nearly 5,900 square feet of living space, and a palette of soft aqua, sea foam and blue against white and neutral backgrounds. The French style is evoked in the shapes of select furniture pieces, ivory and bisque finishes, antique mirrors and French blues. The designer is also introducing unexpected elements, including contemporary and retro lighting fixtures, the latter featuring oversized bulbs and visible filaments.

The interior design complements the architecture of the Avignon, which features simple black-gray metal accents, formal landscaping, a grass and paver driveway, as well as watercolor blue casings and mullions in shutters, entry, French and garage doors.

The model offers a sitting room, great room, study, dining room, powder room, five full baths and a second-floor loft. It also has a private outdoor shower garden accessed from the master bathroom, and numerous covered outdoor sitting areas, including an outdoor kitchen and a second-floor balcony.

Allen selected 24-by-24-inch shell stone installed on a diagonal with threshold details and random-length wire-brushed European white oak wood with a natural hard-wax finish for the study, master bedroom, its two large walk-in closets, and the loft.

The sitting room introduces the first hint of French-influenced design. A cabinet features a gray finish and fretwork overlay — a dramatic contrast to the scrolls of a contemporary gold chandelier. The room also offers a gas fireplace with a brick herringbone interior, two tufted back Bernhardt sofas with throw pillows introducing aqua and blues, mismatched walnut ivory nesting tables and a brass, natural bone and clear glass coffee table.

A gallery off the sitting room provides a number of directions. It adjoins a vestibule and the stairway hall — three spaces offering blue-framed double French doors opening to a long-covered terrace. The gallery also opens into the kitchen and its adjoining dining area, where the open floor plan flows into the great room.

Allen’s finishes and furniture selections in the kitchen and dining room revisit the Avignon’s accent colors. The kitchen backsplash’s horizontal mosaic is rendered in tones of blues, grays and jades. The room also features maple cabinetry, gray and white quartzite counter tops with Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances, including a six-burner range with double oven, separate stainless steel steam oven, a black microwave, 42-inch built-in French door refrigerator with full freezer, and  separate bottom freezer refrigerator drawers in the island. The freestanding island offers three tipsy bar stools covered in spa blue upholstery extending nearly their entire 30-inch height. The stools have chrome bases and chrome and leather footrests.

The spa blue repeats in the fabric of the dining room’s six guest chairs with bisque frames surrounding a hefty rectangular wood table.

A fully equipped butler’s bar adjoining the kitchen has built-in refrigerator drawers, a second refrigerator for wine bottle storage and an antique mirror backsplash. It also serves the great room, which offers numerous seating options and French influences throughout chairs, table and sectional sofa. The great room has a painted box-beam ceiling and a media wall with a 75-inch TV and built-in cabinetry with window seats.

The nearby powder room features a Victoria + Albert vanity with an anthracite finish, with Venetian plaster walls and a crescent shaped decorative mirror finished with distressed silver leaf and mirrored frame. Its floor has tapered marble mosaics in shades of glacier, gray and snow white. The study features a freestanding contemporary styled bookcase, gloss-white desk with pearl leather inserts on the top, a light-toned leather arm chair and a French blue credenza with aged-gilded accents.

In a private wing, the adjoining master suite features a king-sized poster bed finished in French blue, a tufted and buttoned settee in aged gray, a mirrored writing desk with aged-gold accents, and a cottage blue dresser. The bathroom’s striated polished marble floors marble floors grounds the statuario Spanish porcelain that clads various surfaces. Horizontal mosaic marble in gray, taupe, and white tones accents the floor and a wall of the shower. A freestanding Victoria + Albert tub with a chrome leg filler is positioned at a window.

Furnishings in one of three guest suites on the first floor includes a cotton-colored dresser, an upholstered canopy bed and natural oak nightstands with a white bone pattern. The second floor’s two guest bedrooms have walk-in closets and feature summer white, rustic ivory, driftwood and silver leaf finished furnishings. Each has access to separate full baths.

The model offers an elevator and a white semi-gloss painted staircase. Both open into the loft, which has a vaulted faux-finished ceiling, wood floor and pocketing doors to the balcony overlooking the pool and golf course. The space offers several sitting options: a sofa with pale sky patterned throw pillows, beech-finished armchairs with mist-colored fabric and two al fresco groupings with slip-covered chairs. The fretwork of a wood and antique mirror credenza captures a subtle French look.

The Avignon has wood-stained, tongue-and-groove ceilings throughout its covered outdoor areas and motorized screens. The model’s southern views gaze across the pool to Quail West’s Arthur Hills-designed golf course. The model offers expansive outdoor areas and a return to the lawn. Grassy areas are incorporated into the hardscape of pool deck pavers, water and fire features and lounging areas.

"The outdoor living is spectacular and grand," Allen said. "The Avignon has a large fire pit in the grassy area adjacent to the pool and lounge seating for six. The spa is at one end of the pool with a fire and water feature at the opposite end. There’s also an 84-inch round dining table with upscale resort-inspired furnishings including seating for eight under an umbrella."

The Avignon encompasses more than 9,800 total square feet, including a four-car garage, outdoor living areas, balconies and covered entry. The model is priced at $4.975 million, fully furnished and expected to be complete January 2017.

Quail West is a 1,180-acre luxury golf and country club community located east of Interstate 75, one mile south of Bonita Beach Road.